Feb 13 Choral Concert - Vox Femina

Faculty of Music Choral Concert Celebrates Music for Female Voices

TORONTO ’Äì On Friday, February 13, 2009, the University of Toronto Women’Äôs Chorus is joined by guest choir, the University of Guelph Chamber Choir, in Vox Femina, a concert featuring music for female voices spanning 500 years. Conducted by Robert Cooper C.M. and Marta McCarthy, the program includes music by Palestrina, John Tavener, Francis Poulenc, Pavel Chesnokov, Eric Whitacre, Brahms, Duke Ellington and folksong arrangements. The concert takes place at 7:30 pm in Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge Street (NW corner of Yonge & Heath). Tickets ($14 adults, $8 students/seniors) can be purchased at the Faculty of Music box office in person or by calling 416-978-3744 and are also available at the door on performance night.

One of Canada’Äôs foremost choral conductors, Robert Cooper C.M. is currently Artistic Director of Chorus Niagara, Orpheus Choir of Toronto, the Opera in Concert Chorus, and the University Women’Äôs Chorus, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music. Mr. Cooper has had the honor of conducting the National Youth Choir of Canada and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1997 for a Celebration of Canadian Choral Music. He has conducted symphony orchestras in Halifax, Winnipeg, Edmonton and London (ON), opera companies in Victoria, Ottawa and Winnipeg, leading choirs across Canada, as well as Toronto Operetta Theatre and Opera in Concert. Acknowledged as an innovative programmer, Mr. Cooper has also commissioned and premiered many new works by both Canadian and international composers. Mr. Cooper has adjudicated the international choral competition Let The Peoples Sing on many occasions, guest conducted Newfoundland’Äôs Festival 500, Parry Sound’Äôs Festival of the Sound, the 2007 Ontario Youth Choir, and Ottawa’Äôs Thirteen Strings to which he returns once again in December 2008 to conduct works by Haydn and Britten. In addition to his work as a popular clinician, Mr. Cooper will conduct Toronto Operetta Theatre’Äôs spring production of Iolanthe. Mr. Cooper recently left CBC Radio Two after 31 years of bringing fine choral music and operatic performances to all of Canada as Executive Producer of Opera and Choral Music. He has served as President of the Ontario Choral Federation and the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors and presently serves on the Board of Directors of Chorus America. Robert Cooper is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Brock University for his significant contribution to the Canadian choral community and is a member of the Order of Canada.

Dr. Marta McCarthy, conductor, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph, where she has been directing the choirs and teaching musicianship for thirteen years. She also conducted the University of Waterloo Choir, and taught choral techniques at Wilfrid Laurier University and at the University of Toronto. Marta is a graduate of Westminster Choir College of Princeton (M.Mus), the Royal Conservatory of Music (ARCT, piano performance) and of the University of Toronto (B.Mus, B.Ed., Ph.D.). Recent honours include the 1999 Elmer Iseler Conducting Fellowship, an Ontario Volunteer Service Award, and being named a member of the June Callwood Circle of Caring. In 2005, she was awarded the Guelph Woman of Distinction for Arts & Culture.

Part of Canada’Äôs top university, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music has an illustrious history as one of North America’Äôs leading centres for the scholarly and professional study of music, offering a rich array of degree and diploma programs from the undergraduate to post-graduate levels. The Faculty of Music presents an annual concert season of over 100 public events. Highlights of the 2008-09 season include cellists Steven Isserlis and Shauna Rolston, baritone Sherrill Milnes, composer Maria Schneider, conductors David Briskin and Miah Im, jazz great Phil Nimmons, the Mirˆ„, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, the Gryphon Trio and Nexus. For more information, please visit our website at www.music.utoronto.ca or contact the Box Office at 416-978-3744.

The Faculty of Music 2008-2009 concert season is made possible by the generous support of our pillar sponsors: Manulife Financial, MBNA Canada, and TD Meloche Monnex Insurance.


Ticket sales and general inquiries:
Faculty of Music Box Office
Hours: 1 ’Äì 7 pm, Monday to Friday, with extended hours on performance nights.
Phone: 416-978-3744
Address: Lobby level, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’Äôs Park, Toronto ON M5S 2C5